Secrets Tear Us Apart
by Prettylittleliarsfan1999
Summary: Ezra Fitz has been keeping a lot of secrets. What will happen when Aria finds out? What will happen to Ezra? Will they both end up in a spiral of self-destructive behaviour or will they learn to forgive and forget? A story of betrayal, secrets, A, friendship, anger and family. Rated T for minor suggestive themes and violence. Speculation fic, set around 4x20. AU.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I apologise for any mistakes in advance, as this has been written on my iPad! I don't own Pretty Little Liars or any of the characters.  
This may last up to five chapters, that depends on where my mind goes!  
This story is just what I think (and what I would like to think) would happen after Aria finds put that Ezra is A.  
Without further ado, here's the first chapter!

Aria and Ezra were sitting on a ski lift. He'd asked her to come with him to take a break from reality. The reality in which they were in an illegal relationship -again- as they were teacher and student. Not only that, they'd slept together soon after rekindling their relationship. Ezra tried to regret doing that, but he couldn't. It had been consensual. She'd wanted it as much as he had. They'd needed it.  
"I love you." Ezra said tenderly.  
"I love you too." Aria replied. She rested her head on his shoulder.  
The two lovers sat in peace, hands entwined. But something felt off. Ezra could feel it.  
"Is there something wrong?" Ezra asked quietly.  
"What? No." Aria lied.  
He knew her too well. "You know that whatever it is you can tell me, right?"  
She sighed. "Hanna, Spencer and Emily, they-" She hesitated.

"They told me-" She paused again.  
"What did they tell you?" Ezra asked, putting on a calm facade while he was internally panicking. He hoped his calm attitude was convincing. He knew that the three girls had an idea about what he was hiding and it was pretty accurate. Damn Spencer Hastings. Damn Hanna Marin too - he'd underestimated her intelligence.  
"They told me that you're hiding something. That there's something big you're not telling me. And they told me to ask you. I-I'd just like reassurance that it's not that bad. Or if it is that bad...I want to know what it is you're hiding from me." Aria's lower lip trembled.  
Ezra didn't reply. He didn't want to lie to her. Not anymore. He just didn't have the strength to.

"Promise me you'll tell the truth." She whispered when he didn't say anything. She slowly pulled her hand away from his.  
Ezra nodded in affirmation. "I will." He said seriously.  
"How many things have you been hiding?" She started off with a general question.  
He gulped. "Quite a few things..."  
Aria's jaw set. "How bad- how bad is it?" The man she loved had been hiding things from her. Probably lying too.  
"What do you mean?" He asked.  
"Will I be running for the hills when I find out? Is it worse than a crazy ex-fiancée? Or a controlling bitch of a mother?"  
Ezra couldn't help but chuckle at that. Then he sobered again. "It is." He deliberately didn't answer the first part of the question. "What do you think it is?" He enquired carefully.  
"I've been thinking of so many worst-case scenarios in my head... But I don't know." Aria kept her composure.  
"Tell me. What do you think it is?"  
"Uh... You're engaged or seeing someone else? Or I'm a rebound or something?" Ezra shook his head for both of these. He struggled not to wince at the second one. Or something is right, he thought.

"There are a couple of other ones too but they're a lot worse and telling you those will expose some of my own lies..." Aria said quietly.  
"Tell me." He prodded.  
Aria took a deep breath and gulped. "Well, I lied to you. A is back." She was almost completely sure that he wasn't A, that he wouldn't be capable of such a thing, but she needed to make sure.  
Ezra nodded. His fists clenched involuntarily. He knew that saying nothing would be the best policy at that moment.  
"And I've been getting texts and threats that are much worse than what Mona did. The girls and I know it's not a high school girl playing around anymore."  
He simply nodded again and pretended to be concerned.  
"Just to make sure... You wouldn't get involved with that, right?" Ezra stayed silent. As much as he didn't want Aria to find out about his "A" status, he couldn't continue lying to the woman he loved more than life itself. When he said nothing Aria became concerned. "Right, Ezra?" She asked again. He said nothing.

"Right?!" Aria raised her voice.  
"Wrong." Ezra thought.  
"Oh my God." She whispered quietly in realisation after a few seconds. "You're A."  
Ezra stiffened next to her. She moved as far away from him as possible, which was hard to do in a ski lift for two people.  
"How did I not see this coming?!" Aria shouted angrily. Then she lowered her voice. "The Halloween train, all that money in your sock drawer, when I told you about the Jenna Thing you barely even flinched..."  
"Aria-"  
"Is the whole world out to get me? What is it next? Is everyone who my friends and I trust on the A Team? Who's next? Paige?" She put her head in her hands as she started to cry. He yearned to put his arms around her shoulders and comfort her but knew that doing that would only make things worse. If they could get worse.  
"No. Aria, just let me explain-" Ezra began to plead.

"Save it." Aria said bitterly. "I don't know who you are anymore! But I guess I never actually knew you were at all! Oh and let me guess. You're not just A, are you? You're Board Shorts too."  
"Aria-" She didn't let him finish but the expression on his face gave away the answer.  
"For God's sake. I should've known. You slept with a fourteen or fifteen year old before, so you thought why not date your student? That's not too big of a stretch. You've just been using me to get close to me and find out more about Ali, haven't you?"  
Ezra wished he could tell her the truth. No, he hadn't been using her. He loved her. But she wouldn't believe that. Not after finding out he was A.  
"No Aria, I-" He tried to explain.  
"Don't say anything." Aria said harshly.  
She stayed silent for a minute or two, which was never a good sign. Then she started shouting.  
"GET ME OFF THIS THING!" She shouted.  
"Aria..."  
"HOW DO I GET THE HELL OFF OF THIS?! I'M WITH A FREAKING STALKER!" Then she started yelling the worst cuss words she could think of at him.  
"In a minute we get to the bottom." He tried to calm her.  
Aria huffed and curled up in a ball.

They sat in an extremely awkward silence for a while, Aria curled up as far away from Ezra as humanly possible.  
"Why don't you just kill me?" She asked quietly.  
Ezra didn't reply.  
"I mean, I know your secret. You're A. I'm alone with you, no one will hear me scream... Don't you always have a gun with you or something?" Tears ran down her face. She looked a mess. Her makeup was completely smudged, her cheeks her blotchy and her voice was hoarse from screaming.  
"I'm not going to kill you." Ezra replied firmly.  
"Don't you have a gun?"  
"Yes." He admitted. "But I'm not using it."  
"You sure about that?" She asked bitterly. "What if I tell anyone about your little -scratch that, big- secret?"  
He took his pistol out of his jacket pocket and emptied the magazine. "There." He said.

Luckily for Aria, they were now at the bottom of the slope. She ran off the ski lift as fast as she could. He stood there for a few seconds. But Ezra didn't want her to get away so he sprinted in her direction and caught up with her quickly. Then he grabbed her arm.  
"Aria, please. Just let me explain." He begged. He wasn't out of breath at all - sprinting for a while wasn't unusual for him.  
"No." Aria replied breathlessly.  
"Please."  
"No." She repeated. She raised her voice: "You betrayed me, and I will NEVER forgive you for that. I hate you, Ezra Fitz!" Aria ripped her arm out of his very strong grip. "Get the hell away from me. But one more thing." She was eerily calm.  
Immediately, slapped him in the face with as much force as possible. After that she stormed away.  
Ezra stood there in shock. Soon the shock passed and it turned to anger. He wanted to punch the living hell out of someone or something. Something was probably the best bet. Ezra strode over to his car and sat in the driver's seat, then put the key in the ignition. He slammed his hand on the steering wheel in anger and started to drive. Fast. He knew where he was going to go and what he was going to do next.


	2. Chapter 2

Secrets Tear Us Apart Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, follows, favourites and views for this story!  
Pretty Little Liars isn't mine. I wish it was.  
Anyway, here you go: chapter 2 of Secrets Tear Us Apart!

Anger pulsated through Ezra Fitz's veins as he drove down the dark road in the pouring rain. He had every right to be livid; his girlfriend (well, ex-girlfriend now) found out he was A. So he was pretty furious. He turned right to get to the cabin in which his current "lair" was in. The word "lair" hadn't been his idea obviously. He slammed the car door, opened the door to the cabin and walked in before opening the trap door beneath the rug next to the bed. Then he walked down the stairs where his co-conspirator was waiting.

"Hello again Mr Fitz." Mona greeted from the chair she was sitting in. "Haven't seen you here for a while."  
"I was here the day before yesterday." Ezra said.  
"Exactly. You're usually here every day."  
"I'm really not in the mood right now, Mona."  
"Why weren't you here? I was here on my own basically all day yesterday, except when I went shopping in Philly and on a date with Mike, so basically just yesterday morning..." She rambled.  
"SHUT UP MONA, I DON'T FUCKING CARE! JUST DO YOURSELF A FAVOUR AND SHUT THE FUCK UP!"  
Mona had never seen her English teacher so angry. She actually felt slightly scared. Only he had ever been able to make her feel that way. However, she kept a poker face. Suddenly she came to a realisation.  
"Oh. My. God. Aria found out, didn't she?" Mona realised, a maddening smirk on her face.  
He chose not to reply. "She did." She continued. "That's why you're so pissed."  
Ezra was still livid but spoke more quietly than before. "Yeah, she found out. Her friends basically told her."

Mona didn't know Ezra well by any means. However, she did know that when he spoke that quietly after being so angry, he was lethal. It was the calm before the storm.  
"So what are they gonna do now? Call the cops on us?" She asked.  
"No. They're not stupid. They know that we'd get out of it."  
"Y'know this is all your fault, right? If you hadn't started dating Aria then we wouldn't be in this mess. But it's not like you actually love her or anything, so it doesn't matter. You're just using her for information about Ali."  
Before Mona could process anything she was pinned up against the wall by her English teacher, who had a terrifying expression on his face.  
"Don't you even fucking say that again." He growled.  
Mona wasn't scared. "You do love her, don't you?" She couldn't resist smirking.  
"It's none of your business."  
She continued to mock him, which was a bad idea on her part.

Ezra took his gun out of his pocket and held it at Mona's throat. "Don't cross me. You got that?" He warned.  
Mona's eyes widened and she nodded. Now she was legitimately terrified. Was he going to kill her?  
To her surprise he stepped away slightly and put his gun in his pocket.  
"I'm not going to kill you." He said. Mona felt a lot less scared than she was before when he was holding a gun to her throat.  
He sank into his chair and put his head in his hands. "WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?" He shouted, though he sounded somewhat defeated.  
"You don't need to shout Mr Fitz, I'm right here." Mona half whispered. She felt bad for him. She walked over and sat on the chair next to his, putting her hand on his knee in a friendly, comforting gesture. Ezra was silent. "I have no idea what you should do. Maybe give her some time to just-"

"Time isn't going to work Mona." He replied exasperatedly. "She hates me."  
"Sleep on it. Think about what you're going to do next. And if you want to punch something, punch that wall over there. Just preferably not me." A small grin appeared on her face.  
"Thank you. I'll do that." Ezra sounded calmer than before.  
He stood up and stalked over to the aforementioned wall. Mona turned around to watch him. She always used to think he was just an English nerd with a grudge against Alison but, boy, was she wrong. He seemed to be stalker first, English nerd second. Ezra punched the wall with all his might. There was a gaping hole left in it.  
Mona's mouth dropped open. "Shit." She muttered under her breath as she stood up to look at it.  
Ezra's knuckles were bloody and bruised but he couldn't care less.  
Ezra then did something that Mona hadn't anticipated at all. She'd thought it was more likely that he'd kill her.

He strode up to her and cupped her face in his hands. Then he kissed her aggressively. She didn't respond for a few seconds but after that she did. His tongue traced her bottom lip asking for entrance, which she granted. Their tongues duelled for dominance, her saliva mixing with his. Her hands fisted themselves in his hair as he wrapped his arms around her waist. They continued making out like that for a minute or two. Ezra's hands ventured further down south. Suddenly Mona wrapped her legs around his waist and he held her up by the thighs. They both moaned. He stumbled blindly up the stairs, carrying her flush against him, to the bed. Both of their shoes came off somewhere along the way. He lay down on top of her and they made out more. Then he took off her black hoodie. In turn she threw off his black jacket, unbuttoned his shirt and took that off him too. Next he took off her pants. She unclasped his belt and took off his too so they were both wearing just their underwear. He started to suck on her neck. They continued to undress each other, consumed by their lust and he by his anger.

To say things escalated would have been an understatement. A while later Ezra rolled off Mona, both of whom had a sheen of sweat on their bodies. They were both breathing heavily and tried to catch their breath. That second their brains seemed catch up with their bodies to register what they had done. They looked at each other.  
"Holy shit." They breathed simultaneously.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I'm so excited for next week's episode of PLL! :D**

**As you know, Pretty Little Liars and none of its characters are mine.**

Aria was upset. Actually, to say she was upset was just the tip of the iceberg. She was distraught and seriously pissed off. And of all ways to find out Ezra's huge secrets, she found out because Spencer knew -as did Hanna and Emily- and tipped her off. She would've probably never known if her friends hadn't figured it out; Ezra was very good at keeping secrets.

So many thoughts entered her head. Why hadn't the possibility of Ezra being A even crossed her mind? She realised then that she'd been living in a country called denial for a long time. Why had A never (apart from once, but that was probably Mona) threatened hers and Ezra's relationship even though it was the only one that was actually illegal? Why did A save her relationship? Why did Ezra randomly show up on the Halloween Train? What happened to all the "job interviews" he had? Why did Ezra really have thousands of dollars stashed in his sock drawer? Why did she only find out Ezra's secrets when they were forced out? Because he was A.

Aria's hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. She forced herself not to cry; she'd probably end up having an accident if she did. Where was she going to go? She couldn't go home - her dad would ask too many questions. She couldn't face her friends either. She definitely couldn't go to Ezra. He was A. Tears started trickling down Aria's cheeks. She wiped at them angrily but they just kept coming. Not wanting to end up having an accident, she pulled over, not really noticing where she was. Right in front of Ezra's apartment building. Aria cursed. Anger took over her sense of self preservation as she got out of the car and locked it before storming into the building. She went in the lift, knowing it was quicker than taking the stairs. Of course, she still had her keys to apartment 3B. Not that she'd have needed them anyway - Ezra always left a spare set of keys under the doormat, which was a very stupid move for A to make. She took a deep breath and opened the door.

Everything looked the same as always. The picture of the two of them with paper bags over their heads was still on his desk, all of his French posters were still on the walls and it was as disorganised as usual. But this time she looked at everything with new eyes. She wasn't in her boyfriend's apartment; she was in the apartment that her stalker and tormentor lived in. She walked right up to the picture of herself and Ezra with paper bags over their heads, looked at it for a moment and threw the frame on the floor. She stamped on it with the heel of her shoe until it was completely smashed. Then Aria saw Ezra's laptop on his desk. She sat on the chair and opened it up. There was a password. Obviously. She picked up the laptop and threw it across the apartment like a frisbee.

Aria rummaged through the drawers of Ezra's desk. There was nothing of any significance. But then she spied a folded piece of paper. She unfolded it and read it:  
"You're taking me away [for my] birthday. And all I can do is say, yay. But you're better with words than me. Seriously can't believe I met you in Rosewood. I thought I knew that town. Nothing but secrets and lies. It's best kept secret was you. But you're my secret now. My friends wouldn't understand. They want this to be their weekend, but I want to be the person who shows you the Cape. You can hate the ocean but I promise you'll like the view. That's if you're with me. Maybe we can take a few pictures, too. Ones worth like a hundred thousand words. Our imagination can take care of the rest…for now.  
Your favorite, Alison"

That confirmed it. Ezra was Board Shorts. Ezra had known her dead-now-alive-ex-best friend very well. Intimately well. Hell, they'd slept together! Why did Ezra never breathe a word about this to her? He never mentioned anything about his past. Now she knew why. Aria's bottom lip trembled and her eyes watered but she tried to stop herself from crying again. She put the letter on the typewriter to show him that she'd read it. Then she completely lost it. She went over to the coffee table and grabbed his lamp, smashing it into pieces. She knocked everything off of his desk, kitchen table and coffee table and took the guitar, slamming it on the floor repeatedly. She tried to slow her breathing and relax. Relatively calmly, she collected all of her stuff that was in the apartment. There were books - reading books and school ones - on the coffee table and clothes of hers in the drawers by his bed, as well as some of her underwear in various places. She decided to write a simple note, which she left on Ezra's desk:  
I knew that there was never going to be a happy ending for us.  
-A

Aria left after that, leaving her keys on the coffee table and slamming the door behind her. She drove straight home, let herself in and went up to her room. Her dad was at a conference in New York and Mike was probably asleep or listening to music or something. She crawled into her bed and unlocked her phone, deleting Ezra from her contacts. She also deleted all the photos she had of the two of them together. But when she came to the last one she hesitated.

It was of her and Ezra at the park. Spencer had taken the photo during summer vacation on her phone. Aria, Hanna and Spencer had decided to go to the park as it was a hot day. They saw Ezra there and invited him to wander around with them, to which he said yes. They all bought iced coffees and drank them on the grass. Aria and Ezra had both earned several disapproving stares and Hanna had made so many sexual comments and innuendos it was unbelievable and very uncomfortable. Aria and Ezra had enjoyed being able to show affection in public. Spencer and Hanna seized Aria's phone and were reading all of the texts she and Ezra had sent to each other, which was a source of great amusement for Hanna and Spencer and embarrassment for Aria and Ezra. In the photo she and Ezra were sitting side by side, as close as possible, his arms wrapped around her. Her head was resting on his shoulder and they were both grinning like they hadn't a care in the world. She tried not to remember what happened when she and Ezra went back to his apartment afterwards. It had been one of the best nights of her life.

Was it all a lie? She kept the photo as she couldn't bring herself to delete it. Aria then curled up and cried herself to sleep.


End file.
